God made a perfect world. My neighbor’s imperfections are counter-balanced by imperfections of my own. (Deuteronomy 32:3-4;John 8:7;Ecclesiastes 7:20)

Matthew 7: 1-5 " Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, Let me take the speck out of your eye, while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye."

Sometimes we carry our imperfections so long that they blind us from our own faults. In Psalms 19:12-13, the psalmist realizes that there are two types of errors we may have: those that we can perceive and try to correct, and those that we don’t know about. Our challenge is to no act proud if we have worked and corrected those imperfections we know about because there may be some still there that we don’t know about. Sometimes we want others to live by the same measure that we live. So we try to change them to our perception of what is best. The danger is that we are not supremely wise beings. If everyone were the same (say like us), this would be a boring world. It would also be pointless to reproduce. But by the wisdom of God, we were called upon to "be fruitful and multiply" in a holy sanctioned union of marriage. And as we multiply, a myriad of human variety emerges. Different skills, characters, voices, interests, viewpoints, thought processes. We are as distinct as two snowflakes in a blizzard. And just like one snowflake by itself cannot cover a lawn, one person alone cannot accomplish all things in this world. It takes a combination of diverse interests and talents to make our lives enjoyable. Within these diverse interests, represented by each person, arise imperfections of character or spirit be they vices or weaknesses. Each of us is guilty of such. John 8:7 " When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Jesus’ measure of judgment was not one of pointing out someone’s mistakes, but one of honest self-introspection. First, judge ourselves and if we have found no fault, then cast judgment upon others.

Of course, spiritual and ethical/moral judgments are to be differentiated from human established rules and laws of social order. Human laws are to be followed to not give "offense" to earthly establishments, as Jesus mentions through an example in Matthew 17:24-27 (Romans13 makes it more clear). Those laws are absolute upon which human judgment can be rendered. While there could be differences in opinion, ethical/moral guidelines tend to be more relativistic, as those are generally set through some vague humanistic consideration of what constitutes adherence to such standards. On the other hand, spiritual guidelines are absolute. They are written down for the generations in the form of a Godly inspired Bible. Logically, since humans did not write these words humans cannot pass judgment on other human beings. To explain this, the wisdom exposed in Ecclesiastes 7:20 points to our earthly condition. From this passage then comes the question of how can sinners judge sinners? It would be like that often quoted statement from Jesus of the blind leading the blind. Only God can judge. And he will. Romans 14:10-12.

It would be a much better world if the absolute truths from God, which we hold to be in the Bible, became translated, and entrenched, into the currently humanistic ethical and moral guidelines. Because, in the end, all of us will be judged not by whether we adhere to human traditions, but whether we adhere to the divinely inspired word of God.

So we are left to pursue a life of self-introspection to see where we need to change and how to apply the word of God into our daily living. Through daily applications of the word, at some point, the "log" in our eye will become a "twig" and then a "sliver" and then a "speck of dust". At that point, we can help our weaker brethren with their spiritual growth to the point that they can outgrow, and even take out, that speck of dust in their eye. Our help, however, should not be given through an air of superiority. The countless variations of personal characters confuse attempts to use physical mannerisms as a basis for corrective actions. Indeed, Romans 12: 3-5 encourages us not to think of ourselves much higher than we ought to think, only according to our measure. And Jesus himself explained this concept through a parable in Luke 18: 9-14.

And how are we to help our neighbor grow?

Leadership by example: Romans 14: 13-19

Building up our neighbor through love: Romans 15: 1-6

Church is not made up of perfect people. But is made up of people trying to become perfect in the body of Christ by trying to follow his example daily. Why should we go to church?

To keep up appearances: No

To appease friends or relatives: No

To counter-balance sinful actions: No!

To catch a glimpse of irrational hope, twisted from the speaker’s words, that would justify our rationale for a continuation of our sinful state: No

Guilt of not being there: Maybe

To escape from the world for a moment: Maybe

To surround ourselves with friendly, loving Christians: Maybe

To pacify/quiet our mind for an hour or two: Maybe

Because we love God and want to worship the Creator of all Life and Supplier of Blessings: Yes

Because we want to learn more about God and the life of Christ: Yes

To help brethren in any way we can: Yes

To people we appear great because people make us great. But, in God’s presence we are neither great nor small. We are only an attachment of love.